I am a pediatrician at Primary Children’s Hospital and wanted to discuss the epidemic of e-cigarette use we are seeing among Utah children, and how HB112 Regulation of Electronic Cigarettes will help. This is a bill with a broad coalition of support including the Board of Primary Children's Hospital, the Utah Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and Utah Chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians. The Utah Medical Association also has a policy statement regarding HB112. I would also refer you to Janet Brooks and Bill Barnes at Primary Children's Hospital who can also answer questions about the Hospital's support of HB112.

I would appreciate meeting with you at your earliest convenience.

Based on Utah Department of Health and US Centers for Disease Control data:

1. Kids’s use of e-cigarettes in Utah has tripled from 2011 to 2013 (while rest of the country has only doubled)

2. Despite having no legal access to e-cigarettes, Utah youth are three times more likely to report current use than adults.

3. Nearly one-third of Utah youth who use e-cigarettes report that they never tried conventional cigarettes.

4. e-cigarettes are the preferred tobacco products for Utah kids. In some areas, as many as 20% of children use e-cigarettes regularly.

5. Compliance checks decreased underage sales of tobacco products from 62% to 6% from 2001 to 2011, without the retail license HB112 would provide, there is currently no way for the State to identify or regulate under age sales.

Our kids deserve to not be targeted by the tobacco industry with products that are designed to addict children. I would appreciate talking with you about the epidemic use we are seeing among children in Utah and how HB112 will help. I urge you to support HB112 and would appreciate meeting with you at your earliest convenience.